Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a little guy that has been blind since birth (he hatched in July). I've taken him to the vet and tried a few treatments, but there is nothing left to try. I have been syringe feeding him an awesome formula (from Marcia - Golden Gate Geckos) every single day since his first shed and offering water via a syringe a few times a week. He's smaller than the other babies, but he is growing well, gaining weight, shedding regularly and apparently healthy in all other aspects besides his eyes.

He gets scared in a big tank, so he lives in a shoe box sized critter keeper with a margarine container moist hide and a cork bark cave dry hide. When he wants in his hide, he rubs his head along the side until he gets to the door and then goes in. I keep both hides in the same position so he gets used to their placement, but I'm not sure it matters. He has no regular poop area and just poops wherever. He rarely poops in his hide or his cave though, so he must have some awareness of where things are.

Has anyone else raised a blind gecko? Any ideas on how (or IF) I might be able to "train" him to eat mealies from a dish on his own? Or will I have to hand feed him forever? I'd love to find a way for him to eat on his own, but I don't have any ideas. He is obviously helpless with a cricket running loose in his cage and is scared by crickets and mealworms when offered to him using tweezers. Any advice or ideas would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks!
Lisa

Hi.

I had a blind baby hatch this year.

He lived for around 3 or 4 months, never growing that much larger then a hatchling.

I'm pretty sure he drank water by licking the walls of his humid hide.

I fed him by holding him securely in my hand, while gently nudging a mealworm into his mouth. You can use the "butt" end of the mealie, (due to its point), as a crow bar type thing and jimmy the worm into his mouth.

Sometimes he would grab the worm when I had it just a bit in his lips, and then he would eat it by himself.

Other times he would just refuse to open his mouth.

Other times he would open it but spit the worm out after I got it in.

Other times he would take the whole worm in, close his mouth and then spit it back up the second I put him back in his shoebox.

In the first 2 months he would eat quite predictably, as many as 5 or 6 mealworms. As he got older, (but not much bigger), he slowed eating and eventually stopped.

When his weight returned to the weight he had hatched at, I euthanized him. ... it was awful.

In conclusion, my bet is that my guy had more wrong with him then just his eyes. If yours seems to be putting on weight then he has a chance at surviving. However, I can't foresee him eating on his own.

He might get used to eating from your hand, particularly if you do it the same way every time. Try doing it the way I suggested. He might associate being picked up and held with food.

Other things you can try are leaving him in a very small container with mealies or with large crix missing one or both of their back legs (sounds so brutal!).

Best of luck,

Joel
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3.6.3 Leopard Geckos (1.4.3 Albino)
~~25 Leo eggs cookin'~~
1.1 Ball Pythons
1.0 African Fat Tail Gecko
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.0 Blair's Phase Gray Banded Kingsnake